After receiving the latest-spec ground on his Pink Bull RB21, Yuki Tsunoda was delighted to qualify seventh in Belgium – his first look in Q3 for the reason that Miami GP weekend greater than two months in the past.
He held on to that place on the belated begin of the race however then, apparently inexplicably, pitted for slick tyres a lap later than team-mate Max Verstappen, who had stopped on the finish of lap 12. That price Tsunoda monitor place and, crucially, left him caught behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who had certified thirteenth however was among the many first opponents to cease – with the Frenchman coming in on the finish of lap 11.
Tsunoda then turned mired within the DRS practice behind Gasly, working in eleventh and unable to cross the Alpine as a consequence of Gasly’s lower-downforce configuration. Spending 30 laps attempting to cross took an excessive amount of life out of Tsunoda’s tyres and he dropped two locations to a charging Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg within the ultimate laps.
“It was our mistake,” mentioned new crew principal Laurent Mekies in his post-race press convention.
“We needed to pit him on the identical lap as Max [Verstappen], and the whole lot was prepared, the crew was out, the whole lot was able to get each vehicles, and we merely known as him too late.
Yuki Tsunoda, Pink Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Pink Bull Racing Group Principal
Photograph by: Pink Bull Content material Pool
“So it is on us, sadly. And one lap made a giant distinction right this moment – so he misplaced, I believe, three or 4 positions, which finally stopped his struggle for the factors.”
Pink Bull driver advisor Helmut Marko was considerably churlish, telling reporters that “there was a miscommunication” with the crew and including that Tsunoda’s “pace was additionally not good”.
Mekies additionally defined the considerably peculiar timing of the ground improve, which Pink Bull fitted between the dash race and qualifying on Saturday. Tsunoda claimed that not solely did it ship an enchancment in total grip ranges, it was additionally extra confidence-inspiring than the earlier spec as a result of it was much less delicate and fewer vulnerable to uncontrolled sliding.
“For the ground, as a lot as we bought a number of publicity for it, it is nothing uncommon or nothing totally different right here,” mentioned Mekies.
“You push very, very exhausting to get the most recent specification as quickly as you may on the racetrack. You get it for one automobile, then you definately get it for the second automobile… and typically you might be shocked as a result of one is available in earlier, one is available in later.
“In order quickly because it turned out there, we had been then confronted with the selection to both await the next weekend or to make use of that barely uncommon window between dash and predominant quali, which comes with some threat. It comes with some threat as a result of it was extraordinarily tight to have the ability to match the components of the automobile.
“So, the crew did a tremendous job, and as you have got seen, we had been truly barely late going out for qualifying. And then you definately usually pay a worth as a result of the drivers must adapt, and it isn’t very good to enter quali with a new-specification automobile.
“However anyway, we felt it was definitely worth the threat and the trouble, and Yuki did a tremendous job with it to adapt by means of qualifying to it and positively did a giant step of efficiency and did a really, very sturdy quali.”
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